Best GPU for Intel Pentium 4 670 3.8GHz 2MB 800MHz CPU Processor SL7Z3

[Hypovolemia]

Hiyas Guys/Gals,

First off I must say I love Tom's forums! These forums and MajorGeeks are my go-to spots for hours of education and you guys here are awesome. Secondly, I do have an Intel i7-4700MQ Windows 8 64bit 8Gb RAM system so I don't need to hear how my "old" system is a piece of $%!+, hehe. I know the Pentium 4 is older than dirt, BUT.....

I'm really wanting to upgrade this old dinosaur's GPU. This system is only for running online games and my new system handles my other needs perfectly.

The old system specs are:
Dell XPS Gen 4 w/ a OU7084 motherboard
Intel Pentium 4 670 3.8Ghz 2MB SL7Z3 with 4Gb of RAM
It has PCI-Express 1.1 x 16 (x16 v1.1)
It has one 6-pin power adapter and a 460watt 32amp PSU
Current GPU is a Radeon x850 XT Platinum Edition
I'm going to install Windows 7 64bit this weekend (wipe the HD & do a fresh install) but its XP at the moment.

Dell website recommends the PNY 650 Ti card as an upgrade but I'd love to know the general consensus. I'm looking for the best graphics card this systems can handle w/o a bad bottleneck because I'm never going to upgrade this again. Price range $150-$250. Thanks in advance for any help ya'll can offer. I'll still love your forums even if no one feels this question is worthy of a response

 

[Azn Cracker]

I wouldn't spend more than $100. even at that point the pentium will bottleneck a lot. you are pretty much limited to games 5 years or older. I do recommending buying a c2d cpu for like $10 off ebay and then buy a graphics card.

CPU:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&LH_BIN=1&_nkw=lga+775+core+2+duo&_sop=15

for gpu r7 260 ($110)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?SID=6116d8c321f440bea5248393d86294e0&AID=10440897&PID=1225267&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-cables-_-na-_-na&Item=N82E16814127780&cm_sp=

 

[InvalidError]

I agree with Azn. A 3.8GHz P4 is going to be a bottleneck for just about any GPU worth buying. Unless you plan to upgrade the rest of your PC in the not-so-distant future, don't bother spending more than $100 on a new GPU.

 

[beetlejuicegr]

haha so what i did is this

1) I googled your CPU and found that it was first made at 2005
2) i added 2 years of use and searched for the best graphic cards of 2007
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-card,1718.html

So i strongly suggest you buy an ATI Radeon 3870 or 4870 because there you will possibly see your CPU start to bottleneck. You could go with ati radeon 5850 but as 5800 series are DX11 you may get huge bottleneck there. However as i see even at 2008 the dominant GPU was an ATI 3870X2, i think i would finalize my suggestion and say

buy an ATI RADEON 4870 from ebay, i bet you can find them around 50-60GBP and you will have a top of the art DirectX 9 gaming rig ^^

PS i doubt you can install a core 2 cpu there btw. 670 seems the top cpu for that board

 

[Hypovolemia]

Sadly, the OU7084 motherboard can only take a 775 single core processor and the 670 is the fastest single core Intel has ever made. I'm really restricted by the motherboard which is why if I can get a good GPU that will run some games (not the new stuff) I'll be happy to plug away for another year or two using it before it becomes curbside deco.

Thanks for the quick responses!

 

[Hypovolemia]

It appears the ATI RADEON 4870 PSU requirements say 500watts. Some research shows folks saying a 460watt 32amp would run it fine even though it a close call. Any thoughts on that? Also it requires 2 6-pin power adapters while I've just got one. I guess some molex power adapters would be needed IF my PSU can run it. I've just got a DVD R/W, CD R/W, and a old 3 by 5 disk drive(which I can disconnect) pulling power. Are there splitters that can make 2 6-pins out of my single 6-pin? Would that be safe/work? I've never tried to add an additional 6-pin so I'm clueless. I'll do more research on this but advise is always always welcome

EDIT: Looks like the Radeon 4870 will pull too much power at 150watts . Maybe thats why Dell recommended the PNY GeForce GTX 650 Ti that pulls 100watts but I'm pretty damn sure that's going to bottleneck bad.

Any other suggestions for a single 6-pin card? or if I can get adapters... maybe a lower powered 2x 6-pin card? I'm still not 100% sure my PSU can't handle the 4870 so I'm still looking for remedies.

 

[InvalidError]

You can get a GDDR5 HD7750. That's pretty much the most powerful GPU worth putting in your PC and you should be able to get one for less than $100. It also uses less than 75W so you should not need to worry about your PSU either.

 

[Hypovolemia]

If its alright, I'll leave this post up till tomorrow noon to see if I get any other suggestions but looks like your dead on InvalidError. Thanks man

 

[beetlejuicegr]

My experience says that playing old cpus with really new GPUs is always bad. I never had happy moments when i upgraded my GPU first and not my CPU/system.
As you do want to play some DX9 old games there (some counterstrike, UT99-Ut2k4, and whatever you want) i think that a 3870 or a 4870 is the best choice.
About the 4870, If you have cables coming out of your PSU that give the typical old school power for hard disks and they dont give power to anything you can use a molex there for the 4870. Don't buy a 4890 ofc.. its a monster in power.
Plus i can direct you to loads of threads about how much actual power a gpu drains during gaming, it is not as much as they say. My rig for example (i5 2500k oc at 4ghz, xfx 5870 fully oc, 5 1tb hard disks, 1 ssd , 6 fans 120mm, ) my UPS, WITH! the IPS 24inch monitor working , goes up to 230 watt! inside heavy gaming! lol. and to think i bought a 1000watt psu...

 

[Hypovolemia]

I had to buy a brand new laptop for med school last year so with all my books & tuition I'm broke as hell atm. This old Dell is just going to get me though for some old gaming when I get the time to relax a little. Its going to be 2-3 years until I get afford a new gaming system like yours Beetlejuicegr. Priorities and all

Thanks everyone for the great advice and once again Tom's is awesome for those of us with moderately low tech savvy.
I just picked up a Sapphire HD 7750 DDR5 OC on ebay for $107 shipped. Hopefully it won't bottleneck to much and keep me going until I can afford something better.

 

[Azn Cracker]

I had to buy a brand new laptop for med school last year so with all my books & tuition I'm broke as hell atm. This old Dell is just going to get me though for some old gaming when I get the time to relax a little. Its going to be 2-3 years until I get afford a new gaming system like yours Beetlejuicegr. Priorities and all

Thanks everyone for the great advice and once again Tom's is awesome for those of us with moderately low tech savvy.
I just picked up a Sapphire HD 7750 DDR5 OC on ebay for $107 shipped. Hopefully it won't bottleneck to much and keep me going until I can afford something better.

lol why didnt you get the r7 260 for $3 more like i suggested? It's a good amount faster

 

[Hypovolemia]

No doubt the r7 260 you suggested is a nice alternative but at $26 dollars more and the higher power pull I figured the 7750 might be a safer bet. I can't find the power specs on the old x850 XT PE (probably b/c the sandstone tablets the specs were carved on have been lost in antiquity) so I was uncertain exactly what power it pulled. Figured it was a safer bet to go with the lower card and tbh the r7 260 had me a little more concerned with a bottleneck.

I DO appreciate your help and advise Azn Cracker and if this doesn't work out I may just sell this Sapphire on Ebay, take a few bucks hit and snatch up that r7 260